


Before You Came Along

by CinnamonrollStark



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Accidents, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fluff and Angst, Gay, Lesbian Michelle Jones, Loss, Loss of Parent(s), Love, Marvel Universe, Protective Peter Parker, Sad, Teenagers, Time Travel, Tony Stark Feels, Whump, yeet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 19:51:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18372935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CinnamonrollStark/pseuds/CinnamonrollStark
Summary: It was an accident, truly.One silly teenage accident.When Peter, Ned, Shuri and MJ find themselves with the time stone in their hands, they end up sending themselves thirty years into the past.The year is 1991- and the only person that can possibly help them get back to present day is the one and only Tony stark... who has just lost his parents.





	Before You Came Along

The day starts off as normal as they come. A Tuesday in early summer, Peter is just beginning to settle into the rhythm of break. Ten minutes before noon he clambers out of his unholy cocoon of old science papers and candy wrappers (as this is what his bed has come to) and slips on a pair of checkered pajama pants. He wears a shirt that proclaims: SBEVE, something that May often confuses for Steve, to which Peter always replies that he is team Iron Man forever- but Rogers is cool enough, " _He's from Brooklyn_."

His hair bounces as he walks to the beat of it's own drummer. Pete picks at the dry skin to the side of his nose with the corner of his thumbnail, and smells the scent of old bacon and eggs. May made breakfast before she left for work, and its sitting out on the stove, cold, some uncooked egg congealed around the edges of the meal. The boy takes them, removes the fork from the plate and puts the food in the microwave. It might be lunch time but Peter is incredibly tired, so he zones out on the dotted screen of the microwave, entertained by the spinning plate of jiggly chicken fetuses.   


After the meal, he watches TV mindlessly until his phone buzzes with several notifications, all Ned. Three of the texts are memes, one which is overlayed with the words: Send this to Thor. Peter's about to write back with the fact that Thor will not find this particular meme all that humerous, but it's the next text that really grabs his attention:  


**Peter! The Wizard guy is at White Castle.**   


That doesn't exactly seem likely, as Strange is more of a Chic-fil-a guy, but he takes his friend's word for it- after all, Ned is working today at White Castle, so why would he lie.   


In the next half hour, Peter gets ready and writes a note for May, informing her of his whereabouts, although he's sure he'll be home before she is. Then he skips off, grabs a bus and heads Ned's way.  


◇◇◇  


White Castle is busy and filled with a lot of people who are talking to themselves. Peter politely squeezes between a man and a woman who are having an argument- the man spitting rather loudly the word "Puta", which lands speckles of spittle on Peter's neck, intended for the woman. And then again, past a man who is muttering, Fuckfuckfuck over and over again.   


Peter sees the back of Strange's head and ducks instinctively. He's not sure why, but this feels like an intrusion of privacy- even though Stephen is eating in a public resteraunt- as the man is just in civilian clothes, and the time stone is not around his neck. He's unguarded, entirely normal, and it's not for Peter to see. Ned is oblivious to this and waves excitedly from a fryer when he spots Peter next to an occupied table. 

Peter signs for his silence, then points to the bathroom, a meeting place out of the Doctor's line of sight. Ned gets the message and heads to the toilet and Peter scoots silently alongside sever legs that swing back and forth (or play footsie) in between the booths. With everyone else in here, he probably doesn't seem so out of place.

When Pete arrives in the bathroom, Ned leans against an automatic paper towel dispenser, which loudly sticks out a rough tongue of brown paper at the small of his back.

"Why are we in the bathroom?" He asks. Peter leans against the wall between two airdryers. One turns on with a clattering  _Dumdumdum_ and he scoots out of reach of the possesed contraption. 

"I don't really know," says Peter, "but it felt right. When did he get here?"

"Like two minutes before I texted you. He got fries and a coke. But I had an idea. Before I tell you, check if he's still there."

It's been minus two minutes since they've left the main area of the lobby, but Peter obliges, sticking his head slightly out of the swinging door. He's still there, and he tells Ned the same.

"What's the idea?"

"Okay, so," begins Ned, removing his White Castle ballcap, "He's the time guy, right?"

"Yeah."

"So do you know how he like, time travels?"

Peter nods. "Yeah, he like has the stone in a necklace. The time stone. It's the green one."

"Okay. Okay, so the new Star Wars movie is coming out next year, right?" 

"Right."

"So say we get ahold of the time stone thing. And..."

"And?"

"Come on Peter. You've gotta be getting an idea of what I'm talking about."

"I think I do, and I think you're being insane."

"PETER! We could see the movie before they're even done filming it. We could be the first people to ever see the movie. But that's not all," he says, pausing to check one more time if the time wizard is still in the resteraunt, "okay, the big thing would be, THIS." Ned pulls his phone from his back pocket. His screensaver pops up accidently, and it's a particularly sexualized fanart of Black Widow. 

"A cartoon of Natasha Rominov sucking on Carol Danvers' b-"

Ned clicks it off quickly. "No! Shit, no, I was thinking we could film it. Star Wars, I mean. Not Captain Marvel and Black Widow. Although..."

"Why would we do that?"

"I don't want to work at White Castle forever. Do you know how much something like that would be worth?"

"I'm lost, here, are we talking about the movie or the female superheroes."

"The movie."

"It's unethical, Ned." 

"Okay, so we don't film it. At the very least, we'd get to see it. I mean, come on. How cool would that be."

◇◇◇

Long story short, Peter is reluctantly stalking Dr. Stephen Strange with the help of his best friend, who has shed his fast food attire and is now wearing khaki shorts and a shirt with a pineapple on it. At a stoplight, Strange stops at the crosswalk and checks his phone. Pete and Ned try their best to blend into the crowd. This is very much not aided by-

"Guys!" It's Shuri, hand clasped around that of MJ (an unexpected but surprisingly well-fitted pairing. They've been dating since January.) The two weave through the crowd, Shuri in the lead, excited, and MJ tiredly dragging behind.

"Shh. Hey. How are you guys?" Peter whispers, and Shuri's face scrunches up. "Why are we whispering?"

Ned leans over sideways to Shuri. "We're stalking a wizard." 

"Yeah, we're aware. You said that in your message. The real question is why." Michelle adds as the light turns green and the pedestrian orange blinking hand turns into the little white frame of a stick figure man. They walk in a huddled group, definitely not blended in, but still unnoticed by the wizard. 

"Star Wars." Says Peter, who doesn't follow up with any further explanation. And though it's all rather fun, he can't help but feel like the four of them are about to make a very big mistake.

  


  



End file.
